Is there any way to decrease length of labor?

[Annie Laurie]

Has anything been shown to make labor more productive/shorter, like amount of exercise while pregnant?

 

My labors have been 36 hours, 10 hours, 5 hours, 12 hours, and 22 hours. I have a feeling that much of it is due to position of the baby, with my last labor he just wasn't engaged against my cervix right. It was a miserable labor, the hardest I have ever had. I am a big believer in homebirth, but I kept wondering if I'd been able to have an epidural if I would have dilated quicker.

 

It sounds silly after 5 babies, but I'm a bit afraid of labor and delivery again, since they just keep getting worse each time.

[PentecostalMom]

It is my experience and from what I have read from a medical standpoint, than an epidural will not decreas the time in labor unless given in conjunction with pitocin, and even then, it is not always quicker.

 

With my 5yo dd, dh was on R&R from Iraq and we had a 15-day window to have the baby. We tried stripping the membranes and it had no effect. I ended up starting pitocin and not using any paing medication, including epidural. It was my shortest labor, but also the most intense, and all in all, ended up being the worst. From the start of the pitocin to her delievery was four hours.

 

Next dd, labor began at about 1:30am, and we had to drive from Georgia to Florida, almost a five-hour drive to the midwife (long story). Upon arrival I was 7.5cm, and she was born about two hours later. After I got out of the car, labor was MUCH easier when I could be mobile. Best birth I have had so far.

 

By the way, we have lost two babies, one I gave birth to full-term with an epidural that did not "take". Nothing I could do about it, but I wished after that fact that I hadn't bothered.

 

One of my favorite books, and one of the reasons I chose to switch to fully unmedicated births with midwives is Ina Mae's Guide to Childbirth by Ina Mae Gaskin. It is my childbirth bible! There are many suggestions to help speed up labor and to help you deal with it. I know after five you know the progression, but I read it again every time I am expecting another.

[NicAnn]

:grouphug:

 

Honestly, the research and my past history with clients, shows that epidurals often cause labors to be longer.

 

Long painful labors are very often because of positioning of the baby. Check out the Spinning Babies site: http://spinningbabies.com/ Also talk to a doula if you can. If you are having a homebirth, a lot of doulas will do it for free or reduced. A good doula will be able to help you with positioning. If you decide to go that way, make sure to ask her about this in the interview.

 

A lot of times the fear or even excitement of labor can extend it. I'd recommend Hypnobirthing....either taking the class or reading the book on your own. Birthing From Within, again the book or the class, is also great reading. HypnoBirthing produces some truly amazing births.

 

Let me know if you have any specific questions about positioning or anything, really.

 

Take care!

[NicAnn]

Oh, and yes, exercise can help labor. Particularly prenatal yoga.

[ktgrok]

Has anything been shown to make labor more productive/shorter, like amount of exercise while pregnant?

 

My labors have been 36 hours, 10 hours, 5 hours, 12 hours, and 22 hours. I have a feeling that much of it is due to position of the baby, with my last labor he just wasn't engaged against my cervix right. It was a miserable labor, the hardest I have ever had. I am a big believer in homebirth, but I kept wondering if I'd been able to have an epidural if I would have dilated quicker.

 

It sounds silly after 5 babies, but I'm a bit afraid of labor and delivery again, since they just keep getting worse each time.

 

Position is the biggest factor. Possibly also nutrition. But mainly as you already guessed, position. Have you looked at the spinning babies website? OH, and chiropractic!!! Having chiropractic care while pregnant can really help to make sure everything is aligned, making it possible for the baby to engage properly. I think doing that would be your very best chance at a shorter, easier labor.

[busymotherof4]

:grouphug:

 

Honestly, the research and my past history with clients, shows that epidurals often cause labors to be longer.

 

Long painful labors are very often because of positioning of the baby. Check out the Spinning Babies site: http://spinningbabies.com/

 

:iagree:

 

 

I met Gail Tully at a small ICAN meeting. She is an amazing midwife. She has great ideas to get that baby is a good position.

[EmmaNZ]

Raspberry leaf tea.

[Aura]

You might try taking Evening Primrose Oil, starting in your 36th week. Evening Primrose Oil is a natural source of prostaglandins, which is the stuff they can give you soften your cervix. I have good results with it. I have six kids, when I started taking EPO at 36 wks, I never went past due and my labors were much better.

 

Personally, I HATE pitocin. But I also hate going past my due date and I'm fearful of meconium issues and such, so I will induce before I go much past my due date. I have found that if I have pitocin, I have to have the epidural. I can't handle the intensity of the contractions with the pitocin. For the births that I went early and avoided the pitocin, I was also able to avoid epidurals or any other meds.

 

I really wish my doctor told me some of this stuff--EPO contains prostaglandins and pitocin causes more intense and painful contractions. I had to find out through experience and research. These are little things that can make a big difference in your labor plans.

 

THIS IS ONLY WHAT I DID: I took 500 mg of EPO my 36th week and increased by 500 mg every week thereafter. If, after an exam on my 39th week, my cervix wasn't getting soft, I'd up the EPO even more. (I wasn't overly concerned with taking too much--I'd never read of a problem for taking high doses over a relatively small period of time and I wasn't swallowing a whole bottle-full at a time, but you'll have to research and decide for yourself.)

 

IMPORTANT: DO NOT take EPO until you are getting close to delivery--it does contain prostaglandins and it will soften your cervix, which you do NOT want early in your pregnancy!

[Annie Laurie]

It is my experience and from what I have read from a medical standpoint, than an epidural will not decreas the time in labor unless given in conjunction with pitocin, and even then, it is not always quicker.

 

The reason I said that was because my first 2 births were hospital births and I had an epidural w the first one but they made me wait a long, long time to get it and by the time I got it I went from 5 to 10 in 20 minutes.

 

I wasn't considering one in the future though, there are too many benefits to homebirth, and we don't really know the long term effects of pain meds during labor.

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite books, and one of the reasons I chose to switch to fully unmedicated births with midwives is Ina Mae's Guide to Childbirth by Ina Mae Gaskin. It is my childbirth bible! There are many suggestions to help speed up labor and to help you deal with it. I know after five you know the progression, but I read it again every time I am expecting another.

 

I read that every time too! This last pregnancy, I read every natural childbirth book I could get my hands on and really worked hard to get in a positive mental mindset.

 

Then I had a very long, hard labor and was exhausted afterward. Maybe it's just being older, and I do think I could have been in better physical shape, as far as exercise.

 

:grouphug:

 

Honestly, the research and my past history with clients, shows that epidurals often cause labors to be longer.

 

Long painful labors are very often because of positioning of the baby. Check out the Spinning Babies site: http://spinningbabies.com/'>http://spinningbabies.com/'>http://spinningbabies.com/'>http://spinningbabies.com/ Also talk to a doula if you can. If you are having a homebirth, a lot of doulas will do it for free or reduced. A good doula will be able to help you with positioning. If you decide to go that way, make sure to ask her about this in the interview.

 

A lot of times the fear or even excitement of labor can extend it. I'd recommend Hypnobirthing....either taking the class or reading the book on your own. Birthing From Within, again the book or the class, is also great reading. HypnoBirthing produces some truly amazing births.

 

Let me know if you have any specific questions about positioning or anything, really.

 

Take care!

 

Thank you! I will look into those ideas. My dd was my shortest labor, and the pain was completely manageable. I think she may be the only baby who was positioned right, because with my 8 month old, the pain was just different and very hard to cope with and my midwife said he was off to the side of my cervix and not down and engaged.

 

Oh, and yes, exercise can help labor. Particularly prenatal yoga.

 

I'll look into that. (This is all just because I'm wondering, not even sure I'll have another yet).

 

Position is the biggest factor. Possibly also nutrition. But mainly as you already guessed, position. Have you looked at the spinning babies website? OH, and chiropractic!!! Having chiropractic care while pregnant can really help to make sure everything is aligned, making it possible for the baby to engage properly. I think doing that would be your very best chance at a shorter, easier labor.

 

I will definitely pay attention to position more if I ever have another one.

 

Can you tell me more about the nutrition factor? I have an excellent diet while pregnant, I'm way more disciplined then than I am normally. Tons of veggies, whole grains, fruit, lean proteins, fish and fish oil. No soda, junk food, very little sugar, etc. But are there particular foods that help?

 

:grouphug:

 

Honestly, the research and my past history with clients, shows that epidurals often cause labors to be longer.

 

Long painful labors are very often because of positioning of the baby. Check out the Spinning Babies site: http://spinningbabies.com/

 

:iagree:

 

 

I met Gail Tully at a small ICAN meeting. She is an amazing midwife. She has great ideas to get that baby is a good position.

 

I am convinced! I will definitely pay attention to position a lot more if there is a next time.

[kchara]

I've heard people claim that drinking red raspberry leaf tea has helped them have shorter, easier labors. I drank it consistantly through my pregnancies with two pregnancies. With the first, the intense labor was short (I had been laboring all day, but didn't really feel it all that much, it was very mild. About 3 hours of "hard" labor, which still wasn't all that hard until transition) and really not so bad at all. With the second pregnancy, the baby was positioned badly, and nothing could've helped.

[Annie Laurie]

Raspberry leaf tea.

 

I drank gallons of it and it didn't make a difference. I had hoped that it would help, because I drank a lot if it during my dd's pregnancy and had such a great delivery, but it didn't seem to help this time.

 

You might try taking Evening Primrose Oil, starting in your 36th week. Evening Primrose Oil is a natural source of prostaglandins, which is the stuff they can give you soften your cervix. I have good results with it. I have six kids, when I started taking EPO at 36 wks, I never went past due and my labors were much better.

 

Personally, I HATE pitocin. But I also hate going past my due date and I'm fearful of meconium issues and such, so I will induce before I go much past my due date. I have found that if I have pitocin, I have to have the epidural. I can't handle the intensity of the contractions with the pitocin. For the births that I went early and avoided the pitocin, I was also able to avoid epidurals or any other meds.

 

I really wish my doctor told me some of this stuff--EPO contains prostaglandins and pitocin causes more intense and painful contractions. I had to find out through experience and research. These are little things that can make a big difference in your labor plans.

 

THIS IS ONLY WHAT I DID: I took 500 mg of EPO my 36th week and increased by 500 mg every week thereafter. If, after an exam on my 39th week, my cervix wasn't getting soft, I'd up the EPO even more. (I wasn't overly concerned with taking too much--I'd never read of a problem for taking high doses over a relatively small period of time and I wasn't swallowing a whole bottle-full at a time, but you'll have to research and decide for yourself.)

 

IMPORTANT: DO NOT take EPO until you are getting close to delivery--it does contain prostaglandins and it will soften your cervix, which you do NOT want early in your pregnancy!

 

I took EPO late in my pregnancy and it didn't help. Maybe I wasn't taking enough. I am always overdue, and I've taken EPO with the last 3 pregnancies. But I assume I ovulate late and the babies know when they need to come. I'm fine with being overdue, it's just the labors that are hard on me. With this last baby, the 22 hours would have been fine if the contractions felt manageable and productive, but they were painful in a different way than the labors I had that felt productive.

[Annie Laurie]

I've heard people claim that drinking red raspberry leaf tea has helped them have shorter, easier labors. I drank it consistantly through my pregnancies with two pregnancies. With the first, the intense labor was short (I had been laboring all day, but didn't really feel it all that much, it was very mild. About 3 hours of "hard" labor, which still wasn't all that hard until transition) and really not so bad at all. With the second pregnancy, the baby was positioned badly, and nothing could've helped.

 

This sound like my experience. I drank a ton when pg with baby #3 and had a wonderful labor and delivery. I didn't drink as much with baby #4 and the labor was longer and harder, so I made sure with baby #5 to drink a lot, but it was my most difficult labor. Like you, I think it was due to baby's position.

[ktgrok]

As for nutrition, just being well nourished in general. As in, a weak, malnourished woman, with low iron,will not do well. But if you are getting tons of protein, and not anemic, well then, you have that covered. I'd do chiropractic care, and watch your sitting/positioning, etc.

[ktgrok]

Hmm..I did drink a ton of red rasberry leaf tea with my second...my midwife makes a blend that has that, nettles, some other stuff, and peppermint to make it taste good. I drank tons of it, and had an 8 hour labor. But...my 40 hour labor with the first child was much easier...the gradual nature allowed me time to adjust. The 8 hour one was much more intense.

[Tohru]

Chiropractic adjustments, especially as you get closer to the end. It aligns your body correctly and helps the baby move into a better position.

 

And also, spending time in the hands and knees on ground position, like if you were scrubbing the floor because of the nesting instinct ;) The gravity swings the baby into a better position naturally. In our modern lives, pregnant women tend to put our feet up and lean back, rather than bend over.

 

(Gosh, I hope this advise is right since I'm expecting in October :tongue_smilie:)

[meggie]

In my Hypnobabies classes, we had to do some exercises. We had to do squats and we had to sit on the floor with the bottoms of our feet touching and stretch our knees down. We also had to get on hands and knees with arms and thighs at a 90 degree angle to the floor and straight underneath us and tilt our pelvis under. Also we had to avoid lounging back with our legs up. Whenever I sat, I tried to sit on the edge of the chair with the upper half of my body leaning forward. I can't remember how many of each we had to do a day; I remember it started out smaller and every week you increased. Veritaserum might know, she was an instructor.

 

With my third baby who never really got in a good position, my midwife made me do the stinkbug position: head and knees on the floor, bum in the air. Just an FYI, doing that in labor really hurts, so do whatever possible to get that baby facing the right way before you start labor.

[Annie Laurie]

In my Hypnobabies classes, we had to do some exercises. We had to do squats and we had to sit on the floor with the bottoms of our feet touching and stretch our knees down. We also had to get on hands and knees with arms and thighs at a 90 degree angle to the floor and straight underneath us and tilt our pelvis under. Also we had to avoid lounging back with our legs up. Whenever I sat, I tried to sit on the edge of the chair with the upper half of my body leaning forward. I can't remember how many of each we had to do a day; I remember it started out smaller and every week you increased. Veritaserum might know, she was an instructor.

 

With my third baby who never really got in a good position, my midwife made me do the stinkbug position: head and knees on the floor, bum in the air. Just an FYI, doing that in labor really hurts, so do whatever possible to get that baby facing the right way before you start labor.

 

Yep, my midwife had me in really uncomfortable positions like that to try to get baby better positioned, and yes, it was excruciating.

 

I took Bradley classes 10 yrs ago when expecting my second baby and did not find them helpful, so I have been hesitant about childbirth classes. But so many of you have mentioned Hypnobabies that I will look into it if I have another baby.

[ChrissySC]

I have to say this ....

 

Don't get pregnant!

 

 

ROFLOL ... Sorry

[mycalling]

For me it's entirely my position. I can now dilate from 2 or 4cm to pushing in 10-20 minutes, but I've had quite a few labors to perfect my technique.:D I have to get to being ready mentally first before getting into my "laboring position" though. It takes a couple of hours into active labor to "accept my fate," though.

 

Once mentally ready, I get on all fours on the floor, kneeling on a pillow and hugging something like a filled laundry basket or the ottoman. I sit back on my heals during contractions for the gravity and focus on my cervix. It's that sharp painful point at the base of your contracting uterus. You can actually feel it if you focus. When I calm that area and picture it opening, I can actually feel the pain sharpen. It's an odd overwhelming feeling that kind of makes me panicky. I can't explain it, but it's obvious when it's dilating and when it's not. I also take calming breaths to help me not panic and loosen my cervix area.

 

After the contraction, I raise up my bum and let my belly hang and take deep cleansing breaths I hope help baby get oxygen after the intensity of the contraction. If I don't raise up, I get cramps in my legs from sitting on them too long, plus it's relaxing on my belly to hang freely after being so tight.

 

This has worked, taking at the longest 2hrs to become fully dilated, with my baby with a compound arm, my posterior twins, and my two who weren't engaged.

[Heather in OK]

If I had a way to do that, I would be a very busy midwife. :)

[Janie Grace]

Has anything been shown to make labor more productive/shorter, like amount of exercise while pregnant?

 

My labors have been 36 hours, 10 hours, 5 hours, 12 hours, and 22 hours. I have a feeling that much of it is due to position of the baby, with my last labor he just wasn't engaged against my cervix right. It was a miserable labor, the hardest I have ever had. I am a big believer in homebirth, but I kept wondering if I'd been able to have an epidural if I would have dilated quicker.

 

It sounds silly after 5 babies, but I'm a bit afraid of labor and delivery again, since they just keep getting worse each time.

 

My most recent baby (#5) wasn't engaged against my cervix and as a result, I was not dilating, even though all other signs were there that I was ready. Do you know what helped? Sitting on an exercise ball ALL DAY and constantly rolling it... circles, figure 8s, whatever. It was my chair as I was doing read-alouds, I sat on it to eat lunch, rolling, rolling, rolling. :) WOW, if that baby did not get his head right onto my cervix and once labor started, it was quick.

 

Had a friend with the same issue. She did the exercise ball thing and there he was... head down, against cervix, dilating, coming.

 

I am a big proponent of walking during early labor, and deep relaxation later on (a la Bradley Method). My labors have been fast and relatively easy (not saying solely b/c of what I did, but that's what I did, and they were).

[Ellie]

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

 

Laboring at home, in a more relaxed atmosphere, so that you can change positions, walk around at will, have quiet conversations with loved ones...less stress seems to help labor; even if it isn't shorter in duration, it is less painful mentally as well as physically.

 

Also, a childbirth class, preferably Bradley, makes things more bearable.

[Rhonda in TX]

When I was in labor with DS I had an epidural that didn't work (believe me, it didn't work) and I was stuck at about 8 cm. They finally redid the epidural and within minutes I was at 10 cm and ready to push. It was incredible! I've always thought that I was so tense because of the pain that I couldn't dilate. No idea if that was the case.

[mycalling]

If I had a way to do that, I would be a very busy midwife. :)

I learned what I do from my midwives and they taught me how to push correctly...works in 2-4 pushes (except my 1st who had the compound arm).

 

I guess I also learned my breathing techniques from becoming a cert. Hypnobirthing instructor, but I had given birth twice before that.

[butterflymommy]

I had 4 unmedicated births... one (homebirth) was prolonged and horrific in terms of pain. After that I said, forget it, I'm not doing this to myself anymore-- hospital and epidural for me. I don't know if I am typical but the moment I had the epidural in my labor sped up incredibly-- basically flew through transition was pushing within 40 minutes each time. Babies slid right out with near-effortless pushing. However, I did wait till about 5 cm before I asked for the epi. I think it makes a big difference to wait at least till 4 cm.

[wapiti]

I learned what I do from my midwives and they taught me how to push correctly...works in 2-4 pushes (except my 1st who had the compound arm).

 

I guess I also learned my breathing techniques from becoming a cert. Hypnobirthing instructor, but I had given birth twice before that.

I really liked the hypnobirthing "pushing" technique (though I know it's called something else). I found it to be far more effective than traditional pushing.